Tina Fey Factor is real; Palin going on “SNL”

We’ve talked about the “Saturday Night Live” factor before — how a cultural buzz can help shape voter attitudes as much as anything you’d read in oh, say, a political blog. Especially now, when the undecideds are making their decisions.

Now there’s an actual measurement of how Tina Fey’s impression of Sarah Palin is affecting voter attitudes. It ain’t good news for Sarah P, especially since SNL’s ratings are up 49 percent over last year.

“A new national study of 314 self-reported Democrats, Republicans and Independents revealed that after viewing a Tina Fey impersonation of Sarah Palin on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ Palin’s favorability ratings dropped slightly among all parties.”

The HCDers connected with folks on Oct. 8, afer they saw Fey goof on Palin in an SNL skit. The results:

Palin favorability before seeing SNL dropped among all responders (47 percent to 43); Democrats (24 to 17); Republicans (80 to 79); and Independents (37 to 33).

The answer to reversing this: Looks like Palin will appear on the Oct. 18 episode of SNL.

No, no, not live. Heaven forbid she’d have to answer a question. Instead, she’ll be spoofing one of Fey’s American Express commercials. It’s below — so you can see what it’s like. If you prefer not to be shilled, skip it. It’s a smart move by the McCainiacs. Her numbers will spike after this.